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I hopped a fence that sat just outside the parking garage, just as the roar of a motorcycle struck my ears. The sound wasn’t uncommon on its own, but because I was so attuned to anything around me, to any hint, it caught my attention.
Through the small open space between the outside of the parking garage to the inside, I spotted the bike moving inside. It had a man on the front and a small woman on the back. She didn’t wear the same clothing Kenz had, but that didn’t mean anything. The body shape was right—for both of them.
It has to be her.
I grabbed my pistol as I rushed toward the one exit of the parking garage, but what was I going to do? I couldn’t shoot Lorien, not while he drove. That bike going down at that speed would do more harm than good. In fact, a crash like that could kill Kenz.
My gaze moved to the gate, the only entrance and exit from the garage to the street. It had a single red arm that blocked the path for vehicles, but still allowed others to enter and exit by foot. With cars as expensive as those inside, they must have a remote they gave to open it from either side.
I lifted my gun, aiming for where the arm connected, for the engine that must move it from inside. I fired shot after shot just as the arm started to lift.
I wasn’t a man who’d ever prayed to a higher power, who’d ever seen a purpose in that. I’d learned to rely on myself, which meant succeed or fail, rise or fall, was all up to me. I’d never seen a reason to trust anything larger than myself, content to fail if I was going to fail.
Yet in that moment, as the bar shuddered, I prayed as hard as I could that if there was something bigger than me, something looking over me, that it helped me just this once. I sure as hell didn’t deserve it, but it wasn’t for me.
Please, help me save Kenz.
Kenz
A loud bang rose above the roar of the engine. No, not just one but a few. The red barrier before us had started to lift, but it shuddered, paused, then fell back to the closed position.
“Shit,” Lorien snapped, the word echoing in my helmet before I flung forward, against Lorien’s back as the bike decelerated rapidly. I tightened my grip more, then turned my head to the left.
I spotted Tor there, his gun out, aiming at the gate.So that’s how it happened.
“Hold tight,” Lorien said as he tipped the bike to the side, taking it up and onto the walking path beside the barrier. The curb there was tall, making the bike jump up, and I’d have easily fallen if I didn’t have a death grip on him.
To the other side, I spotted Hayden, a ways off, running in our direction, Char beside him.
Be a good girl.The order echoed in my head, how I’d so easily gone along with the wishes of others because it seemed easier, because I didn’t know I had any other choice.
The bike bounced around as he drove it over the path, past the now broken gate. If he hit the road ahead of us, he’d gun it and we’d be gone. Now was my only chance, when he had to keep the speed down.
So when he neared the grass, just before the road, I took one last deep breath.Now or never.
I let go of him and dove to the side, thankful that at least I had a helmet on. Brain damage was the last thing I wanted or needed.
Pain hit me as I hit the ground. While I landed on the grass, the momentum was enough for me to roll all the way to the hard asphalt of the road.
“Kenz!” Lorien’s voice came so loud through the helmet that it made me wince. However, stopping or changing directions on a bike that large wasn’t easy to do. Just ahead, he stopped it, twisting to the side at the same time, so the back tired skidded and he looked back toward me.
I couldn’t see his face due to the helmet, but I didn’t need to. I could feel his gaze on me, the anger and frustration like a slap to my face.
A foot moved before my line of sight, and I glanced up to find Tor between Lorien and me. He had his gun up and pulled the trigger, no hesitation in the movement. It went to show how comfortable he was with removing obstacles when needed.
“This isn’t over, Kenz,” Lorien said. “I won’t lose you, so you should really come to terms with it. You’ll only get yourself or someone else hurt if you keep fighting it. The next time we meet? It will be the last time.” He revved the engine, then took off again, the bike lurching forward as he escaped.
Tor didn’t fire again—probably because a stray bullet could do far too much damage, and he understood that better than most. Instead, he turned toward me and dropped down as he holstered his pistol.
Maybe the fall had done more damage than I’d thought, or maybe I’d exhausted myself from all that running, or maybe the relief had gotten the best of me now that I saw Tor’s face because everything went dark, with Lorien’s threat—and promise—echoing in my head as though he still whispered it to me.
Still, the only thing I could think was that it was worth any amount of pain to be here with Tor and the others. I’d jump off any motorcycle if it meant Tor would hold me just like this.
Chapter Fourteen
Char
I held a few strands of Kenz’s hair, running my fingers along the ends. The hair was dark with slight waves in it, and it never failed to amaze me how soft it could be. Perhaps it was all the years of coloring that had sapped that velvet feeling from my own.
